VOA Launches New Program in Mozambique on HIV/AIDS

Program will be available on the Internet, FM affiliates, and shortwave

Washington, D.C., November 22, 2006 – The Voice of America’s (VOA) Portuguese-to-Africa service launches a new, youth-oriented, radio program on HIV/AIDS aimed at audiences in Mozambique on December 2, 2006.

The show, Vida Sem Medo (Life Without Fear), is a 30-minute weekly program that focuses on the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS. The show will be produced in Mozambique and broadcast from Washington.

“We plan to include news and information about medical and social aspects of HIV/AIDS,” said Ana Guedes, chief of VOA’s Portuguese-to-Africa service. “Our show will feature stories and interviews from across the country.”

Regular radio dramas produced by the Grupo Teatral Ntiyiso and call-in segments with a medical doctor are part of the regular programming.

The program will be distributed across Mozambique by FM affiliates in the major cities, and on shortwave frequencies 909 KHZ/33 meter band; 21590 KHZ/13 meter band, and 18985 KHZ/15 meter band. It will air on Saturday and Sunday from 1200-1230 (Maputo time). VOA Portuguese is available at http://www.voanews.com/portuguese/.

HIV/AIDS is a problem in Mozambique where over 16 percent of the population is infected with the virus, according to UNAIDS. The country’s population is about 19 million.

Vida Sem Medo is funded through a grant from the State Department’s Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator.

VOA’s Portuguese-to-Africa service began in 1976. It currently broadcasts 13 hours a week.

The Voice of America, which first went on the air in 1942, is a multimedia international broadcasting service funded by the U.S. government through the Broadcasting Board of Governors. VOA broadcasts more than 1,000 hours of news, information, educational, and cultural programming every week to an estimated worldwide audience of more than 115 million people. Programs are produced in 44 languages.

For more information, contact the Office of Public Affairs at (202) 203-4959, or by e-mail at publicaffairs@voa.gov.